1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to web press accessories, in particular to a method and apparatus for placing inserts, such as adhesive backed note cards, into a web press product, such as a newspaper, before the end of the web press.
2. Background Information
Web Press Background
A web press prints on continuous rolls of paper, or possibly other substrates. Some web presses can print on both sides of the paper at the same time. These generally consist of several connected units for printing different colors of ink and doing cutting, folding, and punching. High-speed commercial web presses use wide rolls of paper for newspapers, books, etc. and use heat to set the ink (heat-set web). Small or cold-set web presses handle lower volume printing of forms, direct mail, and smaller publications with paper roll widths as little as 11 inches.
Newspaper web presses can occupy several floors and contain multiple 4-color and single color printing units as well as a variety of folding sections to handle the different sections of the paper.
Newspapers and other periodicals represent a significant amount of material produced on web presses. The operation and construction of web presses is well known in the art.
Newspapers in particular have experienced significant continued declining readership in recent years that has been attributed to many sources, commonly now blamed on the public's reliance upon on-line news and entertainment sources. There are numerous article detailing this decline and even a Website, http://www.newspaperdeathwatch.com/, dedicated to “chronicling the decline of newspapers”.
This declining readership base has placed a significant strain on newspaper advertising income, which, of course, is directly coupled to the amount of circulation of the paper.
A few definitions within the meaning of this application may be helpful for a clearer understanding of the present application. A “web press product” within the meaning of this application is a product that is printed on a conventional web press. An insert as used herein is an item that is attached to or inserted within a web press product, with the insert not being printed on the web press producing the web press product. The term “insert” comes from earlier newspaper days when advertising sections were commonly manually inserted into sections of a web press product, namely a newspaper, after the web press product left the web press. Separate insertion machines are now commonly used for insertion of inserts downstream of the web press.
Improving the advertisement found in web press products has been an area of interest for some time. U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,555 discloses a method and apparatus for forming removable coupons within the web press product.
Sticky Note Inserts
One current bright spot in the advertising arena of the newspaper industry has been the popularity of adhesive backed inserts, generally called “sticky notes,” commonly attached to the front or rear cover of the newspaper. For example, www.noteads.com/super sticky notes.htm identifies that “Post-it® brand sticky note advertising allows a newspaper to create a new line of revenue by offering a unique form of advertising that sticks out” and it is assumed that the double entendre is intended here. It is described as the “one form of newspaper advertising that is easy to sell”. These are also available from a company called A-1 Notes. The term inserts within the meaning of this application also covers items that are “affixed to” the web press product, such as the adhesive backed sticky notes. A sticky note, such as the Post It® brand sticky note, is an insert when it is intended to be attached to a web press product.
These newspaper sticky notes have proven to be a very popular, but they have also resulted in a number of complaints. Wayne Ezell a writer for the Times-Union discussed these deficiencies in an article Jun. 1, 2008. This article noted that although these “sticky notes that appear atop the front page [of the newspaper] get a lot of attention—and they generate reader complaints.” For example, the conventional 3-inch-by-3-inch square sticky notes, Mr. Ezell elaborated, “often obscure parts of carefully crafted headlines and stories, somewhat to the chagrin of journalists who think of the front page as sacred ground. Worse, when readers try to peel them off, the newspaper sometimes tears right through the headline.”
This advertising trend of sticky note advertising for newspapers began in the years following the widespread marketing of Post-it® brand sticky notes that began in about 1980. At first carriers affixed sticky notes in a slow and expensive effectively manual process. Newspapers began to use the notes more often as automated equipment for affixing the inserts at the web press became available. A fold-out version allows a company to offer several pages of advertising on one front-page sticky note. Other versions include customer loyalty cards, sports schedules and even jumbo sizes. The notes will be found occasionally on section fronts inside the paper.
The automated machines for attaching sticky notes to a web press product before the end of the web press, i.e. at the web press, are responsible for the increasing acceptance of this form of advertising. See for example the ELECTROCARD® 3G product from Hurletron that bursts a perforated web of adhesive backed cards, see http://www.hurletron.com/pdf/brochures/Ecard Specs.pdf.
Kirk Rudy, Inc. recently introduced a KR 215 POST IT® NOTE ATTACHING SYSTEM that is allegedly capable of 18,000 pieces per hour in a complex, expensive assembly, see http//www.kirkrudy.com/products/kr 215 post it note.htm.
However the existing machines have a number of drawbacks. First they are currently limited to front and rear page placement, and only at certain locations thereon. Further the running of these types of machines is labor intensive due to the feeding requirements of the sticky notes insert product. Further, many existing sticky note insert products use release sheets which generates substantial scrap material that must be disposed of increasing the labor and underlying product costs for the inserts.
Analogous Prior Art Patent
In a somewhat related background, U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,676 discloses an adhesive label having a folded leaflet, coupon or the like disposed between a base sheet and a cover sheet. The cover sheet is wider than the folded leaflet, having side edges adhered to the base sheet. The cover sheet has at least one edge extending outwardly beyond the ends of the sides edges so as to form tabs which are readily grasped for peeling away the cover sheet for access to the leaflet. The label is disclosed in circular and rectangular embodiments. The end areas of the cover sheet side edges may be tapered to reduce the possibility of tearing the cover sheet.
In a somewhat related disclosure, U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,616 discloses a re-sealable, over-laminated leaflet label having a folded leaflet overlaid by a cover sheet having opposed marginal portions extending beyond the edges of the leaflet. The undersurface of the cover sheet is coated with peelable adhesive material such that the marginal portions are peelably adhered to the surface of an article with the leaflet disposed between the article and the cover sheet.
Similarly in a related disclosure, U.S. Pat. No. 6,027,780 discloses a label product including a release liner having an upper surface and a booklet disposed on the upper surface of the release liner. A layer of adhesive is interposed between the bottom panel and the upper surface of the release liner.
In a generally related disclosure, U.S. Pat. No. 6,270,121 discloses a brochure assembly with a product information patch removably attached to one of the panels. The product information patch includes a base label secured to the primary brochure, a folded product information sheet positioned centrally on the base label and an over-laminate secured over the folded product information sheet and the base label.
In a related disclosure, U.S. Pat. No. 6,329,034 discloses self-adhesive label for displaying information includes a leaflet, a tab member, and an adhesive layer. The label may include a laminate cover overlying the upper surface of the leaflet and including a laminate tab portion overlying the exposed portion of the tab member.
In a related disclosure, U.S. Pat. No. 6,749,228 discloses a promotional card that is provided with an informational booklet or the like removably or permanently adhered to a face of the promotional card such that the card may be inserted by a high speed insertion process into a machine that inserts the card into a multi-page article.
There remains a need in the industry to provide a web press accessory for attaching or placing inserts, such as sticky notes, into a web press product before the end of the web press in an economical fashion.